Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Duncan Canal.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Duncan Canal.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Duncan Canal.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

315050

Unknown - Evidence Credible

15 m / 49 ft

56.5°N
133.1°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Rock Types

Major
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

0
0
60
7,558

Geological Summary

Basaltic flows in the Duncan Canal area of the central SE Alaska panhandle are both subaerial and submarine. Pahoehoe and aa lava flows overlie glacial till at Kupreanof Island. Quaternary basaltic lava flows up to 10 m thick form several broad peninsulas and scattered outcrops on the shores of Sumner Strait at the southern end of Kupreanof Island (Brew et al., 1985). On a peninsula in Kah Sheets Bay a basaltic flow depositionally overlies till of the youngest glaciation, and youthful-looking flows are exposed along a broad 12-km-wide front westward toward Douglas Bay. Two probable vents are found to the north within Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks at the northern end of the Castle Islands in the Duncan Canal fault zone, and at Indian Point the flows contain inclusions of picrite. At High Castle Island, the basaltic flows are columnar-jointed and overlie planar to cross-bedded coarse sandstone and poorly sorted volcaniclastic conglomerate.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Brew D A, Karl S M, Tobey E F, 1985. Re-interpretation of the age of the Kuiu-Etolin belt volcanic rocks, Kupreanof Island, southeastern Alaska. In: Bartsch-Winkler S, Reed K M (eds) The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: accomplishments during 1983, U S Geol Surv Circ, 945: 86-88.

Karl S M, Haeussler P J, McCafferty A, 1999. Reconnaissance geologic map of the Duncan Canal-Zarembo Island area, southeastern Alaska. U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt, 99-168.

Wood C A, Kienle J (eds), 1990. Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 354 p.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Duncan Canal. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Duncan Canal page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Duncan Canal.

Photo Gallery

The Castle Islands (center) lie within Duncan Canal on Kupreanof Island in SE Alaska, as seen looking NW from the Lindenberg Peninsula. The Castle Islands mostly consist of Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks, but the northernmost island (far-right side of the island group) contains Quaternary basalts. Pahoehoe and aa lava flows are also found at the south end of Kupreanof Island, where they overlie glacial till.

Photo by Susan Karl (Alaska Volcano Observatory, U S Geological Survey).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Duncan Canal in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Alaska Volcano Observatory (Link to Duncan Canal)

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO was formed in 1988, and uses federal, state, and university resources to monitor and study Alaska's hazardous volcanoes, to predict and record eruptive activity, and to mitigate volcanic hazards to life and property.

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Duncan Canal. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Duncan Canal. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Duncan Canal

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).